So, living out here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, we don't see our family a whole heckuva lot. I see my parents about four times a year and Honey's parents maybe...once. My sis, maybe once a year....Honey's brothers and sisters? Um...last time we saw them (our family seeing them) was....in May of 2010. Uh ... yeah. LONG TIME! So.... I dreamed a dream...an idea that has been popping in and out of my mind's eye for a few months now. This is unusual as I'm an impulsive person and usually JUMP to start something new....so I waited and let it incubate. It's still not fully formed, but I've got to throw it out there before it's too late!
My idea...and maybe YOU, my blog reading friends, can help me turn this into gold. Maybe....I'll inspire YOU to join me in doing the same with your family.....anyways.... MY IDEA!
I wanted my children to feel like they knew "Aunty Dot" even though they don't get to see her and vice versa. I don't want my family to just get a yearly letter. I want them the feel like they know us and are connected with us. So...at first, we will write a letter telling what's going on and then we will ask questions. Questions similar to journaling questions. Questions like....What kind of games do you like? What was your favorite thing to eat as a kid? Now? Then, we answer those questions! That way, we learn about them and they learn about us!
After a few months, we'll be able to see who is interested in being our pen pals of sorts - you know, by seeing who WRITES BACK! Then, if there aren't a ton of people - which I really hope will be the problem - my mom suggested an idea of writing a letter (one page) then sending it to another family member. They read our letter, write one of their own and then mail BOTH our letter and theirs to ANOTHER family member who then adds their letter and passes it on. After it goes through everyone, it comes back to us and we get to read ALL of the letters and see what everyone is doing. We then take OUR letter out and replace it with a new one and pass the WHOLE PACK of letter on to the same person we sent it to last time. This would create a rotation of constantly replacing old letters with new and still being able to read what everyone else is doing! AMAZING! I loved the idea and it was something my mom's family had done with her family. In fact, I will be doing it with her and my sister!
Now, my dear sweet honey doesn't want me to get my hopes up. He's afraid not many people will write us back. And you know what!? That's ok. I will continue to send letters. Not sure how well this will work, but I want it to. Really bad! I plan on scanning the letters from everyone and making a book for our family to reflect on and remember things. Kind of like a big family journal! Awesome!! I get so excited just thinking about it.
Not sure what I will do if a lot of people write me back, because doing that round robin letter idea is great unless there is a lot of people. By then you won't get a letter for ....like FIVE months! lol NOT what I was going for. lol
Got any letter writing ideas?
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